“There are so many people now who say in writing, ‘Oh you’re so skinny now, you’re too skinny. Are you sick?’ all that kind of thing. And I think I’ll just put it out there — I am so happy. I am thrilled to be so fit, so healthy and so happy and so hopeful. Sue me! Sue me if that bothers you,” Gifford, 65, said on the show.

“I did a major motion picture that I wrote, based on a woman who’s newly widowed — she’s been widowed for a year — and she’s a runner,” she explained. “I started getting in shape for that movie last fall, because I knew we would shoot it in the spring. That’s what actresses do.”

“I’ve had three doctors appointments in the last two weeks. [I’m] healthier than I’ve ever been in my entire life,” she said. “More fit, happier, more excited. I’m doing work ten times what I did when I was in my 20s, and if that’s upsetting to people they have to look at themselves, why it’s upsetting to them. The real people in my life, the ones who’s opinions actually matter, are thrilled for me. Everybody else — their opinion doesn’t matter.”

She also pointed out the double standard that exists for actresses who change their bodies for a role.

“Nobody gets mad at … Robert DiNero,” she said. “Or when somebody gains weight to play someone heavy. They say, ‘Good for them! They’re good at their craft.’ Not me.”